Police: Brigham City man kidnapped, beat ex-girlfriend

Tim Gurrister, Standard-Examiner Staff

BRIGHAM CITY — A young father has been charged with multiple felonies for allegedly beating the mother of his child to intimidate her against testifying to a prior assault on her.

The woman was eight months pregnant in the first assault, according to court records. Cody James Anderson, 21, was charged Wednesday in 1st District Court here with eight offenses in the latest attack, which police say went on for almost three hours. The charges include aggravated kidnapping and aggravated burglary as Anderson refused to let his estranged girlfriend leave her Brigham home after he broke a sliding glass door’s locking mechanism in forcing his way in, according to a probable cause affidavit filed by Officer James Allen. The two aggravated counts carry potential life prison terms.

“Once inside Mr. Anderson threw (the victim) against a wall,” wrote Allen. “He was choking her as he grasped her neck with his hands and telling her he was going to kill her” if she testified against him.

The incident last month in Brigham came two weeks before his scheduled trial in Ogden’s 2nd District Court on the prior assault, alleged in April in North Ogden. He did not show for the trial, prompting District Judge Scott Hadley to issue a bench warrant for his arrest for failure to appear.

The warrant was served on him this week when he was booked into the Box Elder County Jail on the new charges. He’s held in the Box Elder jail in lieu of $60,163 bail, his arraignment pending Tuesday before 1st District Judge Ben Hadfield. The trial on the North Ogden attack is yet to be rescheduled.

In last month’s incident, Anderson is also charged with lewdness, as he became sexually aroused, according to charging documents, upon chasing the woman and throwing her back into the home when she tried to flee.

Over the next few hours Anderson kept her captive, and repeatedly punched her, according to the allegations. At one point she was holding their infant child as Anderson hit her and a blow struck the child in the forehead, leading to a child abuse charge.

Anderson finally had the woman drive him to his Brigham address, after which she drove to a relative’s home to contact police.

He is also charged with domestic violence in the presence of a child as the woman’s 3-year-old son reportedly witnessed events, as well as aggravated assault and witness tampering. The altercation also violated the terms of the protective order issued after the April incident in North Ogden.

The woman suffered bruising to her arms in that attack, which was much shorter in duration and resulted in one class A misdemeanor assault charge. Evidence, according to charging documents, includes his texted apology to her for the assault.

Since May following their child’s birth he has been granted court permission to see the baby, but only in supervised visits and if the mother gave permission in writing.

Contact reporter Tim Gurrister at 801-625-4238, tgurrister@standard.net. Follow him on Twitter at @tgurrister.